New aspect of "light" discovered - Light has a Repulsive Force

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6aadd3012e0f.jpg[/atsimg]

A newly discovered repulsive aspect to light could one day control telecommunications devices with greater speed and less power, researchers said today.

The discovery was made by splitting infrared light into two beams that each travel on a different length of silicon nanowire, called a waveguide. The two light beams became out of phase with one another, creating a push, or repulsive force, with an intensity that can be controlled; the more out of phase the two light beams, the stronger the force.

"We can control how the light beams interact," said Mo Li, a postdoctoral associate in electrical engineering at Yale University. "This is not possible in free space — it is only possible when light is confined in the nanoscale waveguides that are placed so close to each other on the chip."

The discovery could lead to nanodevices controlled by light rather than electricity.

Li and colleagues previously discovered an "attractive" force of light and showed how it could be manipulated to move components in semiconducting micro- and nano-electrical systems — tiny mechanical switches on a chip.

"This completes the picture," Tang said. "We've shown that this is indeed a bipolar light force with both an attractive and repulsive component."

"We've demonstrated that these are tunable forces we can engineer," Tang said.

An added benefit of using light rather than electricity is that it can be routed through a circuit with almost no interference in signal, and it eliminates the need to lay down large numbers of electrical wires, the researchers said in a statement.

www.livescience.com...

We think we know so much, yet each day shows us we know so little



[edit on 14-7-2009 by warrenb]

This has crazy ramifications. I wonder how this has been utilized in nature before science had to come around and claimed they discovered it.

I'm having visions of a light beam transport using the attractive & repulsive component of light similar to how magnetic forces are used in trains.

Would it allow for travel at the speed of light?

Great find

Originally posted by Morningglory
I'm having visions of a light beam transport using the attractive & repulsive component of light similar to how magnetic forces are used in trains.

Would it allow for travel at the speed of light?

Great find

High energy photons can accelerate particles with mass, so yes, it's possible.

Examples of this high energy photons are X-rays and Gamma rays.

Truly amazing find. Besides nano applications, I wonder if this new discovery could eventually have "large scale" practical applications as well?

[edit on 7/15/2009 by prototism]

outstanding find which piques the interest on what could be possible one day with offshoots of this technology?

speed of light travel being extrapelated? in some way from this

great find!!


peace

This is a major breakthrough.

It is amazing it has not reached 50 pages by now.

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought... big deal, I already knew light could do that. However... I was wrong, this is a different phenomenon than the one I was thinking of. The article specifically mentions this:

The attractive and repulsive light forces are different than the force created by light's radiation pressure, which pushes against an object as light shines on it.

This is a pretty cool find! Just goes to show that there are still some quite basic discoveries to be made in science.

I wonder if there is any way to produce this force outside of a nanoscale waveguide, such as the article discusses. I had this crazy idea that maybe something like this is why the Voyager spacecraft are accelerating for some unknown reason, but of course they aren't inside a waveguide, so it's probably a dumb idea. Still, it just popped into my head, and I thought I'd mention it.

Originally posted by warrenb

"We can control how the light beams interact," said Mo Li, a postdoctoral associate in electrical engineering at Yale University. "This is not possible in free space — it is only possiblewhen light is confined in the nanoscale waveguides that are placed so close to each other on the chip."

The discovery could lead to nanodevices controlled by light rather than electricity.

Li and colleagues previously discovered an "attractive" force of light and showed how it could be manipulated to move components in semiconducting micro- and nano-electrical systems — tiny mechanical switches on a chip.

"This completes the picture," Tang said. "We've shown that this is indeed a bipolar light force with both an attractive and repulsive component."

"We've demonstrated that these are tunable forces we can engineer," Tang said.

[edit on 14-7-2009 by warrenb]

This seems to say it cannot be used for faster than light travel as it does not allow manipulation in open space.

Can someone correct me if I am wrong?

This is crazy though, we have recent;y broken light speed with that other invention as well, what the hell!?

Light is electromagnetic! Of course it has a repulsive force.

Why are they just now figuring out things that I discovered and talked about on ATS years ago?

Oh I know why... I'm a hundred years more advanced than the rest of the world.

[edit on 17-7-2009 by ALLis0NE]

Originally posted by Matyas
This is a major breakthrough.

It is amazing it has not reached 50 pages by now.

Probably because most people don't understand the massive applications for this.

[edit on 17-7-2009 by DaMod]

Originally posted by DaMod

Originally posted by Matyas
This is a major breakthrough.

It is amazing it has not reached 50 pages by now.

Probably because most people don't understand the massive applications for this.

[edit on 17-7-2009 by DaMod]

So why don't you go and say what they are?

Wow this is an amazing find! I'm amazed this hasn't been on the news?

Could you then repulse light from the past or future from showing up and how would that effect what you see in front of you?

Simply amazing. Ive often thought that light could be more of a physical force than whats known, and I've heard that light may contain particles and such, but this blows the mind. Think of the possible applications for this!